The long path to be published

Text and Photo by Nora Vasconcelos

Endless faithI recently read in the New York Times the story of Donal Ryan, a young Irish author who had written two novels dreaming for them to be published. But his dream took a long while to come true.

After receiving more than 40 letters of rejection, Ryan perservered looking for a publisher, until he finally got magnificent news, his two novels, The Spinning Heart and The Thing about December, had caught the eye of a publishing house and the author was finally offer not only one, but two contracts!

The Spinning Heart tells the story of what was like life in a small Irish town after the financial crisis that affected Ireland not so long ago.

In 2012, the novel was awarded the Book of the Year prize at the Irish Book Awards, and its currently longlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize, to be announced in October 15th.

This story of perseverance and faith made me remember other writers who had to wait for a long time to be published, facing constant negatives from the publishing houses, until they found one firm that believed in them.

Writers like Jane Austen, Dr. Seuss, John Le Carre, Isaac Asimov, Agatha Christie, E.E. Cummings, are some of the authors who walked this long path to be published.

Ryan’s story also made me think, about the courage and strenght that writers must have to keep on trying, even when their dreams are clouded with letters of rejection.

Even now, when self-publishing is becoming more popular, the task of transforming a manuscript into an actual book and then letting people know about it, is a hard thing to do.

It’s faith in themselves and in their work, as well as confidence on their skills what makes them go on with their dreams.